Sisters Brothers 10min Podcast

The podcast episode of Architectural Analysis discusses the key social issues and main points of interest in the book "The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick DeWitt. The story follows the two main characters, Eli and Charlie Sisters, who are hired killers on a mission to find and kill a man named Worm. The analysis focuses on themes of brotherhood and loyalty, mental health and trauma, and violence and morality. It explores how Eli supports Charlie despite his aggressive behavior, how Charlie copes with childhood trauma through alcoholism and violence, and the brothers' lack of remorse in their profession. The analysis also mentions that there are more social issues in the book that were not covered. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Architectural Analysis. My name is Conor Fablak, and today we have a special episode. Today we'll be looking at the key social issues and main points of interest on the book The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Duet. Now, there are many, many key points in this book. It can range from brotherhood and loyalty all the way through mental health and trauma, and even through violence and morality. So, as we approach analysis of this book, we need to realize that there are really two main key characters in the book. Now, it's told from the first person, and the main character, the protagonist, his name is Eli Sisters, and he is the brother of Charlie Sisters. Now, the Sisters Brothers are two hired killers from the 1800s, and they live in Oregon State, and they are traveling to California in search of a man by the name of Worm. Now, they are searching for this man named Worm in order to put an end to his life. They were hired by Commodore, and this was the mission that they were focusing on through this book. Now, in this mission that they set upon, they encounter many obstacles and many other characters along their way. Looking at this from a brotherhood and loyalty perspective, some of these social issues can be really well described. Evidence number one from the book is that Eli is loyal throughout Charlie's controversial incidents. So, what this means is that Charlie is a lot more outgoing. He's more aggressive in nature, and he shows these aggressive behaviors in many incidents. So, in these moments of aggressiveness and these moments of vulnerability, Charlie really depends on Eli for support and guidance. Now, what that means is that Eli is calm. He's level-headed. He thinks more logically than Charlie. Charlie acts out of emotion quite a bit. Another example of brotherhood and loyalty is that Charlie is loyal throughout Eli's longing for feminine affection. Eli, throughout the story, he's really, really passionate about finding a woman and settling down with her. And while Eli really has to put up with Charlie's aggressive behavior and his alcoholism, Charlie has to put up with Eli's seemingly desperate need for feminine affection. Now, the brothers show another great example of brotherhood and loyalty when Charlie, he hurts his hand, and Eli takes on the role of the caregiver and protector when Charlie is injured, which shows that Eli cares and he wants to, he always wants the best for his brother. And once again, another example of brotherhood and loyalty in this story is when Eli mentions his desire to leave his violent lifestyle behind as a hitman, but he finds it challenging to leave Charlie alone in the profession because they really are a dynamic duo and Charlie depends on Eli just as much as Eli depends on Charlie. Now, all of these examples can be found throughout the story and through research. Now, before we take a look at the mental health and trauma aspect of social issues within the Sisters Brothers book, we're going to take a moment and hear a message from our sponsor. I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this message. All righty. Now, viewing this from a mental health and trauma aspect, Charlie, he suffers from severe childhood trauma. Now, this is evident when he explains how Eli got his freckles. Eli got his freckles when he was left out in the sun while Charlie was just a young boy and had to, he had to execute his own father in order to save his mother. Now, this really leads to many problems for Charlie. This leads to him, his alcoholism, his mental health, and he finds peace in brandy and committing acts of violence. And pretty much every stop they make along their trip to California, it's evident that Charlie, he requires alcohol in order to remain sane. Now, with this trauma, both brothers, they exhibit frequent signs of PTSD, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and they both show difficulty adjusting to peaceful situations because they're so used to, you know, acting out of violence and having to make decisions under pressure. A subtle connection that I was able to make while reading the story was that the reason behind Eli's longing for family and affection and love and care is because of the loss of his mother while he was a young boy. And that might be because of him searching for love with every hotel, every bar, anywhere they stay, he is always, he always has his eyes open. Transitioning now into the violence and morality side of the social issues in the Sisters Brothers story by Patrick DeWitt, we can tell that these brothers are skilled killers who show no hesitation when it comes to executing their target. And what this shows is that they really have no remorse for what goes on in that target's life, what they stand for, who they are. They are seriously just hired by the Commodore and their one job is to take out that person, which is, you know, it's not exactly right, but they're just doing their job. So it's understandable that way, but in every other aspect, it's, it seems like it'd be crazy to the average person. And along with this is Charlie's violent temper, which often does lead to bloodshed. This was evident when the brothers, they stayed at Mr. Mayfield's hotel. And when they tried to escape, they were captured. They were cornered by the henchmen of Mr. Mayfield's. So they challenged one henchman to a standoff, which Charlie cheated, and he turned around, shot, he fired early, and he killed the henchman, and they killed the rest of the henchmen as well, in order to escape the hotel. Was it right? Was it proper for them to do that? Absolutely not. But they just had to do what they had to do in order to save their own, save their own life, really. Now, wrapping up, it's, it's important to understand the duties and the roles of each brother. Now, Eli, he's responsible for being the more responsible one, while Charlie is, he plays the role of the more outrageous type of character that makes the story exciting. As mentioned earlier, Eli is more level-headed. He thinks with logic, whereas Charlie acts out of emotion and thinks with, he thinks with his pistol, basically. It is also important to realize that these are not the only social issues in the story. This was only, this only covered not even half of the social issues that were found in the Sisters Brothers book. So if you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments section below. You can shoot me an email as well. My email is always attached at the bottom of the podcast. This concludes our episode of Architectural Analysis with Colin Fablak. We hope you enjoyed our analysis of the Sisters Brothers book by Patrick DeWitt, and we will see you next time.